Constituency Briefing: Kogi West Senator, Steve Sunday Karimi, Gives Progress Report

Senator Sunday Karimi (Kogi West) met recently with Yagba Action Group (YAG), a converge of professionals and technocrats from the three Yagba local council areas in Kogi State. During the paley, the group engaged with the legislator on sundry developmental issues affecting the constituency, such as agriculture, road, water, electricity, empowerment, job opportunities and more direct constituents participation in the processing of bills. In his response, Karimi who is Chairman, Senate Services Committee, enumerated his performance during his first 14 months in the red chamber and challenges. He promises more impactful engagement going forward.

*On the deplorable conditions of federal roads in Kogi West*

I have been given the opportunity to represent the good people of Kogi West in the Senate. It is not because I am the best or I’m the least. It is just a privilege and the grace of God. My belief in service is that when we have the opportunity, we should give it our best, and nobody knows it all. Meetings like this afford me the opportunity to gain one or two things to help me serve the people better. I hope this type of meeting will be held at regular intervals. I am also open to more engagement with other groups and stakeholders as long as it is about us brainstorming on issues relating to improving on the quality of representation. So, I thank you for the issues you have raised. I also want to make the point and I want to report to you that Hon Leke Abejide (representative of Yagba Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives) and myself work in collaboration and it is for the overall good of our people, the era of politics, elections and bickering, we have put it behind us.

First of all, I want to talk about our roads. The house that you are seeing next to mine, that’s the house of the Honourable Minister of Works, His Excellency Dave Umahi. Don’t forget that he was in the senate prior to his appointment as Minister of Works. He moved in here just a few weeks after our inauguration in June, 2023. So, we were colleagues in the senate and we are direct neighbours. As senators, that’s before he became Minister, I had the opportunity of travelling with him to his state on three different occasions, we went round and he showed me some of his achievements when he was governor of Ebonyi. In terms of road construction, he did a lot, especially concrete roads. If you want to see the examples of modern concrete roads that we are talking about, go to Ebonyi. I am talking of 60mm layer thickness. I got interested because we had heard the rumour that he was going to be made the minister of Works. And I have worried him too much about this issue of our federal roads in Okunland, including Kabba-Egbe-Ilorin road. But one thing i want us to understand is that when it comes to road infrastructure, Nigeria has a big problem. Nigeria has an estimated 193,200km of tarred roads in the country, out of which 34,000 kilometres are designated as Federal Roads linking one State to another, including the Federal Capital Territory. Over 80 percent of these federal highways or inter-state roads are in very deplorable conditions. Yes, you get to hear about contracts being awarded here and there almost everyday, but what is the quantum of money available to execute such contracts. You can hardly get a federal contract that can attract up to N20 billion a year because they are just everywhere, so they will just put little money here, little money there, and the money they are putting cannot do much. That is why you see roads like East-West road, Ilorin-Ogbomosho-Oyo road, have been there for so many years uncompleted. Even the stretch between Ibadan-Lagos road has gone bad. That is the problem we have in this country. In our case, the Kabba-Egbe-Ilorin road was awarded to CGC in 2014. The first phase was to run between Kabba and Ejiba, then the second phase from Ilorin to Ejiba. When Dr Bukola Saraki came in as Senate President, he influenced the award of the contract for the second phase. Despite that he was senate president between 2015 and 2019, he was unable to attract funding to execute that road project. That is the problem and that problem is there up till today. So, when we sat down with the Hon Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, the minister said, ‘Senator Karimi, let’s look at the possibility of tax credit scheme to fix that your road’. As at that time, Dangote Group was being considered for that of Kabba-Omuo road. That one has been sealed. Coming to Kabba-Egbe-Ilorin road, we thought of it that Dangote Group might not be interested because of the presence of Mangal Cement. Hon Leke Abejide and I got across to the Mangal Cement Company. The managing director of the company, Engr. Fahad Mangal, myself and the minister met. Hon Leke Abejide at the time was out of the country. Mangal came with his son. During the meeting, the minister urged Mangal to take over the construction of that road on tax credit. That was around May, this year; if I am the media attention seeking type, that meeting would have been blown out of proportion in the social media. Of course, I didn’t see that as an achievement until something tangible has been achieved on that road. Mangal said he had no such cashflow yet at the moment to be able to shoulder such a burden. That, if he’s to take that road headlong from Ilu-Hagba to Ilorin (we looked at the distance, they said it was about 260 plus kilometres) for that distance to be covered by concrete construction, it is going to cost him about N1bn per kilometre. Mangal said there’s no way that he’s going to be able to that, immediately. The Minister now said, ‘Okay, if you cannot do that now, do some bad portions’. He promised to come back to us. He explained that they were planning to take-off (cement production) by July, but that at take-off, he has a tax holiday for two years. So, we are still talking, I still called his son lately. The repair works you see on that road, which started last November, was the effort of the Minister, a result of our constant lobbying. But now he said he doesn’t want to approach it that way, that it is a subsisting contract. I pulled out Senator Ashiru Oyelola Yisa and Senator Oyewumi kamorudeen Olalere (Osun West Senatorial District), that we should go and see the minister. I did that knowing if the three of us go there together, it will carry more weight. I also informed Hon Leke Abejide. We had a fruitful discussion that day. The minister now said, ‘okay, Senator Karimi, itemise the bad sections’ so that we fix it, then he will call CGC who is handling the subsisting contract, to come and work on those bad sections. Meanwhile, I called CGC and CGC said they had a certificate of N4bn, unpaid. That, if the ministry can make a commitment to pay that N4bn, they will go and fix those portions.

We went back to the office, we did a letter to the minister on Senator Ashiru Oyelola Yisa’s letterhead because he’s the Deputy Senate Leader. We co-signed the letter (displays copy of the letter). If we are like other politicians, we would have displayed the letter on the social media space so that people will clap for us, but for me, we have not achieved anything yet. In the letter, I itemised Mopa Township, for instance, from there, go to Ijowa, to Ejiba, up to Egbe. They don’t need to do it all through. I said leave the portions that are not bad; if it is 300 metres, work only on the bad portions and make sure you do proper asphalt outlay. Take another 500 metres and continue to take it like that; that way, we can achieve a lot up to Osi, Kwara State. However, let’s not deceive ourselves, our best bet is when we are able to get Mangal Cement to do the needful because trucks going to and fro Mangal Cement factory will be using that road much more, for Cement distribution. We have to get Mangal to be committed to the road project. If anybody is waiting for government funding, it will not come. We have to look for other initiatives. Government will never have that kind of money to fix all the roads in Nigeria, immediately. That’s why you see that Okene-Benin road has been conceded to BUA Cement on tax credit. If we are able to fix our roads, it will bring about development and economic benefits to our people. The same way we are talking to the MDAs about the Aiyetoro-Gbede-Egan-Abugi road. We have been able to write to the minister to show all appropriated funds in this year’s budget concerning that road. The minister also brought out Sukuk; they have about 1.5b Sukuk. In all, we got N3.6billion that can be paid to CGC and they promised that once they are paid, they will start work. Even after writing to the minister, i discussed with Hon Leke Abejide, and Leke told me that there was money that he also put in the 2023 budget, which has not been utilized, and we agreed to write to the minister so that the money can be pulled out for CGC, to further encourage them. As we were doing this, the Elulu of Mopa, His Majesty, Oba Muyiwa Ibeun also wrote the minister concerning the stretch within Mopa Township. So, they are in Mopa now. At some point, they wanted to leave, but I called the minister and pleaded that they should not leave the site. The minister assured that they will get their payment soon. Dan Kunle is also working closely with me in this effort because he is very close to the system. So, by God’s grace, with the effort we have made, if CGC can do their part between now and December, that will be able to ease our road problem for sometime, before outright reconstruction will be done on that road.

*On Agriculture and Electricity*

In line with the concerted efforts to address the food crisis in the country, on Tuesday, July 9, I moved the motion on the floor of the senate calling on the federal government to distribute fertilisers to farmers in all the 36 states. The motion was titled “Urgent Need to Address Food Insecurity and Market Exploitation of Consumables In Nigeria.” That motion waa co-sponsored by Senator Ali Ndume. Moving that motion,. I stated the need to be more pragmatic about addressing food insecurity, curbing herder-farmer crises, kidnapping for ransom, and terrorism; to ensure the development of a viable National Commodity Board to regulate the price of grains; to ensure the elimination of artificial contributions to food and commodity inflation in Nigeria. The Federal Government responded without delay and sent 60 trucks of fertilisers to each of the states of the federation. Each senator received two trucks of fertiliser for distribution to farmers in our various constituencies. I was allocated 1,963 bags of DPK Fertilizer and 437 bags of Urea. I paid for the transportation of the fertilisers from Kaduna and Port Harcourt. Starting from August 19th, I ensured that the fertilisers were distributed to farmers across the three federal constituencies and seven local governments. Let me tell you, any nation that cannot feed itself has a big problem. There is no greater threat to national security than food security. There has been an increase in poverty because over the years, agriculture which used to be our stable business, has been neglected, partly due to famers/herders clashes that are daily driving people away from their farms and partly because many felt farming is a business for the uneducated. Our interest in farming has continued to be on the decline, especially among our young people, consequently there is low productivity, inaccessible or expensive inputs, increasing post-harvest loss due to poor logistics and insecurity across the country. The reality is: if we ask ourselves, our parents those days did that farming to feed and train us in school and they were able to sustain it. And there are arable lands all over the place, that we are not utilising. Today an individual has a big farm occupying several hectares of land in Omi near Kampe Dam, Yagba West, that farm is funded with over 200m United States Dollars, federal government and foreign agric loans. As I speak to you, a large number of agricultural equipment has been moved there already. That’s a huge investment going on in our senatorial district and the investor is ready to also help our people that are interested in going back to the farm. He is going to bring a lot of farming tools that a lot of our people can utilize. I will see to it that we are able to generate interest among our people to bring something out of that opportunity for the benefit of our people.

In this year’s budget, because our emphasis is on roads, i put some money that should have been used on other things on that road. That is how passionate we are about that road. That notwithstanding I can assure you that we were able to put money in the budget for a lot of things taking into account our people’s agitations, especially for transformers in the various communities. I put over N400m for transformers. I can also report to you here that I put up to N300m in the budget for solar street lights. Where did I get this from? Let me tell you, our solar intervention fund is just N200m but when you work with your colleagues you can get more. Talking about water, in Yagba alone, about 42 solar powered boreholes that I drilled in the various communities when I was in House of Representatives, I am rehabilitating all. Aside the 42, we are doing 70 more, totalling 112. I can report to you here that I was able to attract over N1.2bn for water projects across the 85 electoral wards in the senatorial district. You will start seeing these things working, by God’s grace.

Coming to electricity, it is unfortunate, the federal government’s privatisation policy is a failure. All these transformers we are talking about, it is not suppose to be our responsibility, when the Discos (Distribution Companies) are the ones that are collecting revenue from it, and government is using public funds to buy the transformers. Not just that, this diconnection to the grid that we are talking about in Yagba South East for so many years now and other places, let me tell you something, before we can solve the problem, there is need for big investment. That problem of blackout in Yagba South East, it has to do with the transmission company of Nigeria. I can also tell you that it is partly distribution. The process of connecting power to that region is transmission. It also has to do with the substation that is not fully completed. It is a contract that has been awarded for long but not completed. Likewise, the one they did in Egbe, is not completed, even the power lines they were supposed to bring from Omuaran. Like the substation in Egbe, it was almost 85 percent completed when they abandoned it. Even if I go to appropriation to beg to attract money to complete these substations, it doesn’t come easy because those projects are in billions. We will look for the contractor, we will take the contractor to the ministry, we will use the contractor to negotiate with them in appropriation. It is about negotiation, everybody wants to get something for his constituency. Let’s face the reality. As we are speaking, my attention has just been drawn and people are worrying me that the power line around Niger Bridge in Kotonkarfe has been cut off. Electricity supply privatisation is not working and because it has not worked, that has created a big gap in resolving the problem. There are lapses all over the place. I Sunday Karimi, your senator cannot solve that one alone.

*On Students Yearly Bursary, Small-Scale Business Fund for Women Societies and job opportunities for qualified youths*

In the last one year, we have facilitated employment for about six sons and daughters of Kogi West Senatorial District, including in the MDAs. I do not want to go into details on the pages of the newspaper, we will continue to strive to do more in that aspect. On the bursary for students in our public higher institutions, you are aware we set up a website through which students can apply. We have also set up a committee for each local government, the purpose is to take the applicants back to the committees to verify if the applicants are truly from the electoral wards they entered in their application. We only need 1000 this year out of about 2000 applications. What we did was we looked at it based on the population and voting strength. First of all, I said they should do 10 students per ward, and we have 85 wards in Kogi West, that’s 850 students. If there are not up to 10 students from this or that ward, the surplus will still be filled by that local government. For instance, Yagba West has 140 slots, Yagba East has 100 but because of the voting strength of Yagba East we are giving them additional 40. Mopamuro has 100 slots, Ijumu, 150, Kabba, 150, Lokoja, 150, Kotonkarfe, 120. Then we have 50 that have not been decided on. Bursaries for students in higher institutions will be yearly during my tenure.

In July, we did the groundbreaking for the small-scale business fund, the scheme is put at N100 million to empower 50 registered women cooperative societies in Kogi West. This is in fulfillment of my campaign promise to support small businesses and start-ups. The scheme will be managed by the leadership of each cooperative society under the expert guidance of experienced cooperative managers and small-scale business financing specialists. This annual empowerment scheme is to encourage our women to form cooperative societies. About 50 groups have been selected. By the grace of God, by September we will give N100m to the women societies to share among themselves. Also.men will receive empowerment material for business before the end of the year.

Still on education, we are also laying emphasis on secondary schools classrooms rehabilitation. In Kotonkarfe, I influenced a federal government funded Model School there. That is the only one in Kogi and it is even the only one in the North Central. The Federal Government will be spending N1.2bn on that school project.

*On Security and Construction of Military Forward Base*

We saw that bandits and kidnappers have a route there where they operate freely from Ekiti, from Ondo and from everywhere, they will kidnapp people and take them through that route to the forests in Kwara State boundaries. You will recall that about two months ago, it took a joint task force operation involving the deployment of about 200 soldiers complimented by police, civil defence Corps and local hunters to flush out kidnappers from their various hideouts in the forests of Yagba West, LGA, which shares boundaries with Kwara, Ekiti and part of Niger State. Bodies of two of the kidnapped students of CUSTECH, Osara who were killed by their abductors were found dumped in the bushes near Okunran. The joint task force made Egbe their operational base. With daily helicopter surveillance, for more than one week, the joint troops coordinated by governors of Kogi and Kwara States and the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) swooped on the miscreants and flushed them out. I also played my part, supplying food to the troops in the forests. Before that operation, we had started the construction of the Forward Operating Base, (FOB) and is presently approaching completion. It is located at a critical intersection of three contiguous states: Kogi, Kwara and Ekiti. The project is located on the outbound section of the Kabba-Aiyetoro Gbedde-Mopa-Isanlu-Egbe road, into Kwara, Ekiti, Osun and Niger States. The military personnel who came to Egbe were happy about it and they have said they want to make it a Forward Base. Our aim is that it is going to enhance security all over Okunland up to Kabba. The place has two blocks of 12-room hostels, Commandant’s Office, a block of two-bedroom flat, officers mess and the armoury. We have gone far on that project. Roofing has been completed, electrical connection is ongoing, furnishing is ongoing, including wardrobe and beds. It is not just for Egbe, and again we are looking at the possibility of deployment of more military personnel and we will also be asking for more military security posts in other parts of Okunland on the major roads in Isanlu, Mopa, upto Ayetoro-Gbede and other places where there is no serious security presence outside the police stations. The soldiers will patrol and always return to the Forward Operating Base at Egbe, to sleep. And let me tell you, that project is not a constituency project. It is solely financed by me. I don’t make noise, I am where I am and what I am by God’s grace. I do what I do just for one to contribute our little quota to humanity so that posterity will remember us for good.

*On Constituents Participation in Bills Processing and Town Hall Meetings*

We plan a constituency outreach and an account of stewardship around November 2024. Although one cannot say emphatically yet, depending on several factors, we are considering the constituency briefing to either be in a central place at the Senatorial headquarters, Kabba or per Federal Constituency. In either case, I will formally present my activities, either law making or infrastructure developments and will seek suggestions from the constituents on the laws and projects they expect in the coming year. Initiating bills and motions with direct and tangible concurrence with the needs of the people is an established requirement of law making process in Nigeria. In 14 months, I have sponsored about seven bills and 12 motions. The bills I sponsored, such as the motion on probe of turnaround maintenance of refineries, urgent need to address food insecurity and the bill to apraise the deplorable conditions of federal highways in Nigeria, are not in isolation of Kogi West. The inspiration from these legislative instruments is to solve the societal needs; national needs, and even peculiar needs of Kogi West Senatorial District. Some are inspired by private discussions with members of the public. I assure you of more pointed citizens’ participation in the process of initiating and analysing of bills to involve inviting stakeholders in the senatorial district to make contributions to the bills through periodic Town Hall Meetings. The maiden Town Hall Meeting should hold before the end of the last quarter of 2024, when the ongoing programmes I have outlined have materialised so that we have tangible achievements to tell our people about. I don’t want to go there to start telling people this is what I am doing or planning to do. I told you earlier that I don’t see why meeting with the minister should be seen as an achievement. By God’s grace, between now and November, we will be able to present our account of stewardship and, in a practical way.